Typically, in the product packaging industry, such as in the beverage-bottling field, a series of products are passed through a packaging machine wherein groups of products are segmented and wrapped with paperboard cartons. For example, a series of beverage cans can be passed through the packaging machine and wrapped with paperboard cartons in six, eight, twelve, twenty-four pack configurations, and other pack sizes or configurations. The wrapped products generally then are conveyed further downstream to packaging and palletizing for shipping. Typically, the cartons are preprinted paperboard strips or wraps, generally formed with locking tabs or recesses, fed into the packaging machine from a magazine or feeder. The cartons are fed individually from the feeder in time with the movement of the products through the packaging machine, so that as the products are segmented into groups, such as six packs, twelve packs, etc., each group is moved in time with a carton that is then placed over and locked about the products.
In the past, the cartons generally have been manually loaded in stacks on the magazine or feeder for loading into the packaging machine. This typically requires an operator to be present to manually pickup and load stacks of cartons from pallets or other storage means onto the magazine or feeder for the packaging machine. The machine operator thus generally must continually monitor the level or amount of cartons stacked for loading into the packaging machine so that the stack of cartons waiting to be fed into the packaging machine can be kept relatively constant to ensure the packaging machine will not run out of its supply of cartons during operation. Such a task does not, however, tend to occupy the operator's time completely, and thus simply having an operator stand by the magazine or feeder and periodically pickup, stack, collate and load new stacks of cartons onto the feeder for feeding into the packaging machine constitutes an inefficient use of the operator's time.
Typically, therefore, the operator will be charged with other tasks that they can perform while they periodically check the magazine or feeder to load additional stacks of cartons onto the feeder as needed. If, however, the operator fails to keep up with the supply of cartons on the magazine or feeder for the packaging machine, the supply of cartons could run out, thus requiring the packaging machine to be shut down and re-primed, resulting in a costly downtime and lost production. In addition, many of the operations in a packaging facility are now highly automated, including the packaging of the products within their carton wraps, as well as the de-palletizing and transport of the cartons to the packaging machine. It is accordingly desirable to try to further reduce the amount of manual operations required for the operation of the packaging line to the fullest extent possible, to increase efficiency and lower costs, and to try to reduce risks of workplace injuries such as repetitive strain injuries.